Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Buys New Stake in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 374 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Illinois Tool Works in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 1,060.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 116 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Illinois Tool Works in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Illinois Tool Works in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Illinois Tool Works in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ITW shares. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $279.00 to $265.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $312.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Illinois Tool Works from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $250.00 to $245.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays set a $260.00 target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Illinois Tool Works currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $269.10.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ernest Scott Santi sold 70,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.30, for a total transaction of $18,431,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 260,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,516,979.20. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Michael M. Larsen sold 41,472 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.25, for a total transaction of $11,249,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,698,667.50. This represents a 45.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 159,925 shares of company stock valued at $42,973,845. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Illinois Tool Works Price Performance

Shares of ITW opened at $251.05 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $258.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $260.46. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a 1-year low of $232.77 and a 1-year high of $279.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $73.68 billion, a PE ratio of 21.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 1.13.

Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.04. Illinois Tool Works had a net margin of 21.94% and a return on equity of 95.39%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 10.39 EPS for the current year.

Illinois Tool Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. Illinois Tool Works’s payout ratio is 51.19%.

About Illinois Tool Works

Illinois Tool Works Inc manufactures and sells industrial products and equipment in the United States and internationally. It operates through seven segments: Automotive OEM; Food Equipment; Test & Measurement and Electronics; Welding; Polymers & Fluids; Construction Products; and Specialty Products.